A Visit from St. Nick: 2006

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Every year, at the end of November and the start of December, I fly back to my home state of Kentucky and do an appearance as Santa Claus for a local church benefit. My first visit was in 2004. My mom knew that I've been playing Santa for my stepmothers family for 8 or 9 years now. When her friend, Mary Anne, contacted her and asked her if she knew of anyone who would play Santa for the benefit, my mom said she knew of one top-notch Santa. She contacted me and asked me if I would make an appearance. The church would buy my plane ticket back home, all I had to do was the short visit to the benefit and I would have the rest of the weekend to visit with family and friends. I agreed.

My first visit was in December, 2004. It went smashingly. My mom overheard one guy say to his friend, "You know what? If I wasn't an adult and knew better, I would say that THAT was the real Santa. I don't think I've ever seen a better one." And that sealed the deal for me. I don't do the gig because of the accolades or the plane ticket or the free weekend home with my mom, but because I like the idea of reaching out to a mass of people and bringing something magical and amazing into their lives for a little bit. I don't want to be A Santa. I want to be The Santa and I want them to believe in him, if only just a little bit.

My mom photographed the visit this year. (As she did in 2004 and 2005, too.) I've taken some of her pictures and assembled them here to give you an idea of what a typical visit from Santa is like for me and for the kids.

The Look.

First, a few words about the suit. I got the suit in 2002 from my good friend, the amazingly talented, Miss Vicky. Miss Vicky is a Chicago area costumer. It's what she does for a living. Make other people look amazing on Chicago stages. So, when I knew I wanted something special to be built, there was no one better to go to.
I traveled to her loft apartment, down in Cicero for my first fitting. I wore a sweatsuit, per her suggestion, and when I got there, I found a pile of pillows waiting for me. She and her roommate, Patrick, stuffed both the top and the bottom of the suit until I was perfectly Santa-shaped. And then she took my measurements. This Santa was going to be a big, big mountain of a man.
Once she had the measurements and the pillows removed, we sat down and began doing sketches of the character. I'd decided that I wanted a more traditional, "Father Christmas" style suit for my Santa. I wanted a long coat, down past the knees. I wanted big, billowy sleeves. I wanted a big, black belt and a brass buckle up front. Most importantly, I wanted to lose the American Santas pointy hat and ball and give my Santa a hood. I felt that the "uniqueness" of the suit would offset the viewer. The child and the parent that saw my Santa would think, "Hey, that's not the Santa that I am used to" and within that thought, the seed of belief would be laid. THIS Santa could just possibly be the Santa that all of the others were based upon. That's the idea, anyways. (And when my mom heard that guy say what he said, I knew that it worked.)

For added realism, I've added a few personal touches to the suit. The boots have reindeer bells on them. So, you LITERALLY hear Jingle Bells, with every step that he takes. Also, I've added pouches around his belt for storing important items. Usually, they get loaded with candy canes for big visits, but they have all sorts of surprises in them. (More on that, later.) My inspiration for those was, believe it or not, Batman. And his marvelous utility belt. I figured that Santa would have a whole work table full of pouches and whenever he leaves the North Pole, he would look through them and take the things that he needs and leave behind the things that he wouldn't need. Switching out the pouches for each visit. For the final touch, I added Aviation Goggles to my suit, too. (Inspiration? Starman, of course.) I figured that Santa would need something to protect his eyes, when he's driving the sleigh. On my first visit, one of the dads asked, "Hey Santa, what're the goggles for?" And I replied, "Well, son. When you're piloting a sleigh at 2,000 miles per hour, you don't want to get hit in the eye with a bug, do you? It hurts like the dickens, so, I got these dandy goggles and they do the trick, just fine!" The dad thought about it and said, "Huh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense." And in that instant, the goggles paid for themselves.

I've had two other Santa suits before. In the winter of 2002, my dad suggested that he and I might get a Santa suit and that I would show up at his house to pick up my baby nephews Christmas List. We videotaped that first visit. And as silly and goofy as the Wal-Mart purchased suit looked, my nephew absolutely believed that he was looking at THE SANTA CLAUS. He invited me in and showed me every toy under the tree and his favorite ornaments and everything else that he could think of, to keep Santa there. It was a very sweet visit. We usually watch the tape each year and although he blushes to see how young he was then, we still love the whole thing.

We had to retire the Wal-Mart purchased Santa Suits, though, after The Tragic 2001 Ass Blow-Out. To properly pad out that suit, I wore a big belly pillow and another pillow in the back of the pants, to give Santa a rotund bottom. My entrance to my stepmothers family's house went letter perfect. And I had no trouble being lead by the kids to big, comfy chair where Santa sat and passed out presents to the kids. I took a dozen pictures with the kids and all was well. When I tried to stand up, though, disaster struck! The back of my coat had raised up, even as the pants had lowered down and the pillow in the back of my pants blossomed forth, un restrained. The kids all breathed in a scared breath of disbelief. This Santa stuffed his pants! My dad leaped to my side and we made a comical sketch out of him shoving the pillow back into my trousers and I said, "Well, you kinda havta wear that. The benches in my sleigh can be awfully stiff, sometimes. And my bottom gets sore." Maybe the kids believed it. Maybe not. But I walked out of there, vowing to myself that we were going to retire the Wal-Mart suit, THEN and THERE.
And that's why I went to Miss Vicky to get her help in building the suit you see here.

But enough backstory, let me turn this entry over to pictures from this years visit. I've scattered a few pics from the 2004 visit in here too, to flesh out the visit a bit. But since the visits are usually kept on the same schedule, you probably won't notice the difference.

The Entrance.

So, the first thing that happens, after Santa gets dressed at home, is that he gets delivered to the church, by his number one elf, My Stepdad, Mike. (That's him in the sunglasses, in the picture below.) Santa's a big man. He takes big strides. That's just how he walks. Mythically.


The first order of business is to load up his belt pouches with candy canes for the kids. We've learned from previous experience to actually tighten up the belt a bit, or the weight of the candy canes will nearly pull the belt down. I spent most of the 2004 visit, holding up my belt, until I could drop some candy-cane ballast.
In this pic, a few folks left the church a little early and had a chat with Santa, before they took off. They probably walked away with a smile, but definitely walked away with a candy cane!


Occasionally, a few kids find Santa outside, before he makes his entrance. I like to spend a little one-on-one time with them. I give them big hugs and find out what they want for Christmas. I ask mom (or dad) if they've been good and usually they are.
Look, how startling red that coat is in the sunlight. Now THAT is what Santa's coat should look like.


I sat down on the steps with these two tykes, to get down on their level. I have a re-occurring bit where Santa is too old to get up and down gracefully. I have to ask the youngsters to help me stand up and they get a pretty big kick out of that.


Once I actually enter the church gym, I kinda like to sneak in the side door a bit. (Well, as much as a six foot tall, scarlet-clad international icon, can sneak anywhere.) There is a delicious moment where I am there and plainly in view and the kids haven't noticed me yet and I know that in about five seconds, all Hell is About to Break Loose. I like that moment.


More sneaking, Sneak, Sneak, Sneak!


Finally, haven played his little joke, by entering undetected, my Santa launches into a fine, big, "Merrrrrrrrrry Christmasss, Everybody!" Santa speaks in a deep, booming, voice. Loud, loud, loud!


And it has to be, because THIS is his audience. This widescreen, photo, landscape is what I see from that door, when I walk in. Tons of people in a large gym, with pockets of kids running all over the place.
Kudos for Kevin Taylor for noticing the little boy who was in all three of the montage photos. It was his suggestion that I trace his journey, ala Billy from The Family Circus. That was a very clever idea. (You'll have to click on it, to see what I'm talking about.)
So, this is my audience.


The Setting.

The church provides a fine spread of goodies for everyone to enjoy. As you can guess, the kids are pretty much hopped up on Sugar, when I finally get there.


There's a whole host of holiday themed activities for the kids to enjoy. This year, they could make their own tiny Christmas trees, complete with tiny ornaments and tiny garlands. Despite the fact that nary a single child is captured in this pic, trust me, they were very popular!


If they didn't want a REAL tree, they could also make these "decorate your own" 2 dimensional trees.


There was festive holiday themed face painting. (Somebody looks grumpy!)


Or if you're a cool dude, you can get your hands painted. (I think this little guy is adorable!)


Or you could also make your own Gumdrop tree. This little girl is proud to death of her creation!


This year they also got foam reindeer antlers, which were a big hit with the kids, too!


These little guys are burning off some energy in the flexible tunnel in the middle of the room.


The Visit.

Back to the appearance, this little guy was the first one to see me and he ran across the room as fast as he could and JUMPED up into my arms. I half caught him around the waist and for a second there, before we were mobbed, I swung him in the air a bit. My Santa is a playful guy.


The kids love to get hugs from my Santa. Accordingly, because I KNOW that I'll be up close and personal with the kids, the coat gets a thorough Febreezing before it gets worn. I want my Santa to smell nice, too.


So, this is Santa, being mobbed by the kids, giving out candy canes. I tell them that "Ms. Clause, always loads me up with so much candy, to keep my energy up. " And I love sharing them with my new friends. Of those nearly 60 or 70 candy canes that they loaded me up with, I made it out of there, with less than 10.


In addition to the giving of candy canes and other small toys, I also take some time to field questions from curious kids. I think that this sort of one-on-one time with the big man is critical to the visit's success. Mall Santa's don't give you much more attention, than to ask "Whaddya want"? and if "You've been good this year?" My Santa stops and listens and tries to give his attention to each and every child. And he looks them in the eye and listens to whatever they want to say. Because to a little boy or girl, getting some face time with Big Red is what it's all about.


This little girl is assuring me that her chimney is wide enough to accommodate my Christmas Eve arrival. (When kids ask me how I'll get in, if they don't have a chimney, I say, "Mom and Dad usually leave a door unlocked for me. They usually know that I'm coming.") Next year, we're adding a golden key on a golden chain. Which can open any door in the world. Handy, if kids don't have chimney. (And it's another item for them to touch and check out, while I'm there.)


You see, this Santa costume is also a Hands On Exhibit for little hands. Each one of my belt pouches has some sort of interesting thing in them. The light green pouch has "Pretty Rocks that I've collected on some of my Christmas Eve trips." The maroon pouch has pixie dust in it that they can stick their hands in and wiggle around in. I keep tootsie rolls in another pouch "for a quick snack" and this blue pouch has "Reindeer Chow" in it, which they can squeeze and feel. If they actually take some out and taste it, it'll taste like apples and cinnamon oatmeal. Because that's what it is. It's there more for them to feel the sensation of it being in his bag.
Next year, we're adding a brass periscope for him. He'll need it, when he's navigating his reindeer sleigh.


This year, the church gave Santa a bagful of foam balls to give out to the kids. They were very popular and went like hotcakes.
Some kids were too small to get my attention in the scramble to get the presents. This little guy REALLY wanted a ball, but got lost in the sea of hands, reaching for them. My grandfather saw him skulking away and scooped him up. He called to Santa Claus and asked him if this little boy might get a ball too.


While I was trying to dig in the bag and get him one, he caught my mom taking his picture and flashed her this "Whatchoo takin' my picture for, Willis?" look.


Finally, he took matters into his own hand and got down and looked in the bag with me. That's a classic picture of a little kid, looking for a present inside Santa's gift bag. Adorable!


My Santa is a big man. And it helps that his audience is a bunch of half pints. These little girls LOVED having me there. They quizzed me on whether they were on the "Nice List" or not. I looked down at their name tags and said, "Lindsey and Veronica? Why, yes, I DO believe that you're on my Nice List!"
Which reminds me, that I need to make up two scrolls, One for Nice and another for Naughty and add them to the belt for next year.
The green scarf that you see there, was hand knitted by my grandmother. It pleased her to no end, to see Santa wearing it proudly, this year. It fits the design scheme for the suit, I'm happy to display it!
In this picture, you can see the pocket watch that Santa checks to tell him when the visit is done. When the kids ask where I got it, I tell them that my friend, The Conductor of the Polar Express gave it to me. Squeals of delight follow, shortly thereafter.


Another big part of the visit, is getting our picture taken with the many families there. These folks right here, LOVE visit from Santa and come every year. The little girl closest to me, is "Hannah". I remember her from both of my last two visits and when I saw her and recognized her and called her by name, she squealed and told her dad, "He remembers me!"


Me and Hannah. We're both saying, "Fudge Brownies" or something else ridiculous, when we get our picture taken. For some reason, I also like to point at the camera, as if the child doesn't know where to look. It gives me something to do with my hands, I guess.


I wish I could remember this little guys name, but he was ECSTATIC to see Santa, this year. I've never seen him before, but man, he was a fan. Big time. We got our picture taken and then...


..he grabbed me by the hand and lead me through the crowd to somewhere. (Check out the little girl that we're about to pass by. I think she's about to drop a fruitcake in her diapers, if you know what I mean! Hilarious!)


Turns out that he wanted me to meet his mom! She laughed and laughed, so embarrased to have Santa forcefully kidnapped and drug over to her. I gave her a candy cane and asked if she wanted a picture of us with her little boy.


We took this picture, right here! (I helpfully pointed out the camera again. Not that it was any help, the little guy was looking at something cool, to our right!)


This little boy brought me this present to thank me for the presents that I've brought to him. It's a tiny ice-cream cone Christmas tree, with green icing on it, and powdered sugar sprinkled on it. Technically speaking, this is version 2.0. I didn't see him, when he snuck up on me with the first one and with one big wave of my Santa-hands, I knocked it clean across the room. I apologized to him over and over and thanked him for the lovely treat. He didn't cry or anything. He just snuck off and made me another one, without being asked to.
When he brought me the second one, I hugged him and thanked him and told him that he was a very Sweet Boy. And that his name was definitely on the Nice List. Which was when this picture was taken.


The last thing that Santa does on a visit, is to call out the names of people who've won prizes. Small teddy bears and tiny statues of Santa Claus, they're all stocking stuffers. But the kids take this prize section very seriously and wait with baited breath to win something.


On my way out, the kids get a few more hugs from Santa and a little more quality time. Once the realize that I'm leaving, there's a sort of scramble to say any last minute things that they might've forgotten. This little angel just wanted a hug and when I saw the picture that my mom took, my mean old, cynical heart broke just a little bit. This little girl had the best visit with Santa ever. THIS is my payment for doing the gig. She believes in Santa, with all of her heart. And that's truly magical.
I love this picture.


After the visit is over, the adults restrain the kids who would want to see "Santa riding off with the reindeer" and I wave my last goodbyes and wander down the street, humming "Carol of the Bells" to myself. A block away, I get to my stepdads truck and pop open the back door and collapse inside. I lay down, so that no curious kids will see me in there until we're well away. Usually, after a 30 - 45 minute visit, I am SO exhausted that I can barely move. I head home, change out of the suit, hang it up to dry and drink nearly a gallon of cold water, to re-hydrate.



In addition to THIS gig as Santa, I also keep doing the visits to my step-mothers family. We give out presents and sing Christmas songs and take loads of pictures. That's a particularly fertile family and there's always a dozen or more kids there. Those visits are a treat, too. The whole family looks forward to them. Later, after I've changed and come in to visit "out of character" the adults make their way to me and whisper a sly, "Nice visit, Chris Kringle" and that makes my night, too.

To me, these visits as Santa are as much a part of the holiday season as shopping, opening presents and stuffing my belly full of food. I've been doing it for so long now, that I can't imagine doing anything else on that evening. And honestly, I love it. I really, really love it. More than spreading holiday cheer, I am spreading belief in the One True Santa and that's what Christmas means to me.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

Mr.B